{"id":4975,"date":"2022-06-30T13:44:14","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T13:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/downtown\/?p=4975"},"modified":"2025-06-12T15:54:28","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T15:54:28","slug":"knights-at-work-downtown-all-work-and-lots-of-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/downtown\/knights-at-work-downtown-all-work-and-lots-of-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Knights at Work Downtown: All Work and Lots of Play"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Aleah Blain ’22 completed an internship at Electronic Arts prior to graduating. (Photo by Erin Miller)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By: Jamie Giller<\/p>\n

Connecting students to real world experiences at companies throughout downtown Orlando is one of the major benefits of attending UCF Downtown. For recent grad Aleah Blain \u201822, an internship at Electronic Arts was a chance to learn and contribute to the gaming industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting the internship was one of the most rewarding experiences ever,\u201d she says. \u201cI loved working for a company that really cares about their intern\u2019s growth and development. I grew up absolutely adoring EA titles, such as the Sims franchise, the Dragon Age franchise, APEX Legends, and more, so to work for the company was so meaningful to\u00a0me and my inner child.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, EA \u2013 one of the largest video game creators in Central Florida \u2013 employs more than 100 UCF graduates. The company often looks to UCF\u2019s digital media majors<\/a> and Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy students for internship and job openings thanks to a close partnership between UCF and the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinding out that I was the finalist for the position \u2013 as there was only one intern spot on the team \u2013 was incredible,\u201d says Blain. \u201cTo know I had been chosen from dozens of applicants really helped lower my impostor syndrome, as well as prove to myself that I do<\/em> have what it takes to make my dreams come true. I worked really hard to get to where I am, and scoring the internship was proof of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blain says she took away a lot of important skills from the internship, including design principles, coding techniques, teamwork skills, overall how the game industry works and what it takes to make a successful game.<\/p>\n

As a tech designer, Blain worked with EA\u2019s proprietary visual scripting engine \u201cFrostbite,\u201d used to produce video games like the upcoming EA Sports \u201cPGA Tour,\u201d on which she had the opportunity to directly work. She credits the internship with strengthening her skills as a game developer.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Aleah Blain sitting in a study room on the 3rd floor of Dr. Phillips Academic Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As of March 2022, EA is headquartered in Creative Village, placing job and internship opportunities just one block away from UCF Downtown. Although Blain\u2019s internship took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, Blain says she still enjoyed the downtown campus amenities like Dunkin\u2019, Subway and the common study areas in Dr. Phillips Academic Commons. She also likes how close the campus was to Lake Eola \u2013 \u201cit\u2019s absolutely gorgeous and I love walking around!\u201d<\/p>\n

In October 2022, Blain is headed to Japan to continue her pursuit of the Japanese language and is working on landing a job in the gaming industry thanks to networking while at EA.<\/p>\n

\u201cEA introduced me to so many fascinating people,\u201d she says. \u201cI really got my name out there and now I’m hopefully going to score a job at a studio I’ve dreamed of working at. They reached out to me due to my time at EA and even spoke to my previous managers to get a recommendation and understanding of how I performed during my time as an intern. It’s looking good so far, so fingers crossed it pans out!\u201d<\/p>\n

Blain also shares some tips if you\u2019re thinking about finding an internship: \u201cGet started as early as you can! Your resume and LinkedIn are most important. Seriously, don\u2019t wait until the last minute to build it all up. If you\u2019re interested in applications that open in October, start in August. Make a different themed resume per company \u2013 use the company\u2019s colors and fonts \u2013 use keywords from the job description in your cover letters and resumes, and make sure everything is up to date!\u201d<\/p>\n

We love seeing our #KnightsAtWorkDowntown in the City Beautiful. If you are a UCF Downtown student working in downtown Orlando, we want to share your story! All you have to do is send us an email at <\/em>ucfdowntown@ucf.edu<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By: Jamie Giller Connecting students to real world experiences at companies throughout downtown Orlando is one of the major benefits of attending UCF Downtown. For recent grad Aleah Blain \u201822, an internship at Electronic Arts was a chance to learn and contribute to the gaming industry. \u201cGetting the internship was one of the most rewarding…","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nKnights at Work Downtown: All Work and Lots of Play | UCF Downtown<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By: Jamie Giller Connecting students to real world experiences at companies throughout downtown Orlando is one of the major benefits of attending UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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